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Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Check this out, they want to try and nullify the previous agreement, FOUR years later!!! Plus, mayor Shaw is trying to turn it into a civil rights issue, I'm sorry Mayor, we have the right to operate exclusive social clubs, it may not be very nice, but to infringe on their rights is just as wrong as excluding people on the basis of race. The coverage below states that the lawsuit is not about race, but the illegal sale of land, but Shaw is never quoted as saying it's currently not about race.

This can be found here (this is just more coverage of the same story)
"In December, in a five-page opinion, the Illinois Appellate Court upheld aCook County Circuit Court judge's decision to dismiss a suit brought byDolton against Piscateers Inc.The Piscateers have operated the lake for the past 56 years, but do not haveany blacks among their 150 members, although officials have said the clubhas some Hispanics.The club was founded when Dolton was predominantly white. Membership in theclub is strictly regulated and usually passed down from family member tofamily member.The man-made lake, which was dug in the 1920s for clay to make bricks andlater filled with rainwater, was stocked with fish and maintained by theclub. The Piscateers leased the land in 15-year increments until it was soldto them by Dolton in 1994 for $160,000.Soon after he took office in 1997, Shaw vowed to get the lake back so itcould be used by all Dolton residents and the village filed suit in June1998.The lawsuit argued the sale of the lake to the club was invalid, becausethere were only four "yes" votes by the village board instead of therequired six.In December 1998, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Dorothy Kirie Kinnairddismissed the suit, stating the village took too long to nullify the sale.The appellate court agreed with Kinnaird and found in the four-year interimbetween the sale and Dolton's bid to regain the property that the Piscateershad spent "significant amounts of money" maintaining the property.The appellate court stated that the club paid $160,000 for the property,$25,000 in attorney's fees, another $26,000 in interest on its mortgage and$28,000 in taxes.The village offered no explanation, except for its change in leadership, tospell out why it took so long to act against the sale, according to theappellate court opinion.The court did not address any of the underlying racial issues surroundingthe case, but those matters were never raised in the original suit, which iswhy the case cannot go before the U.S. Supreme Court.Shaw, who is black, has said in the past that race was not behind thelawsuit, rather it was the illegal sale of land.He also has criticized the Piscateers for denying membership to blacks in avillage with a black majority population.--" (emphasis mine)